Early SEC media day takeaways: Michael Porter Jr., league improvement and FBI probe
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The morning session at SEC men’s basketball media day has ended. Players and coaches from seven teams have crammed into the Omni Hotel’s tight quarters and answered questions. Seven teams are left, South Carolina among them.
Three early takeaways:
1. The Missouri buzz is real.
Michael Porter Jr. will make his SEC debut at Colonial Life Arena on Jan. 3. But the freshman on Wednesday was named a co-preseason player of the year in the league.
Mizzou coach Cuonzo Martin brought Porter Jr. to Nashville, making him the only true freshman among the 28 players.
“If not,” Martin said, “you guys would be making trips every week, coming to Columbia. Then all of a sudden we got to cut practice short.
“So I just think it’s the right thing to give you guys what you expect when it comes to him.”
Porter Jr. drew a huge scrum of reporter, his 6-foot-10, 215-pound frame getting lost in a sea of recorders and cameras. His most noteworthy comment? “I’m a vegetarian, so my diet is a little different from everybody else’s.”
The Tigers, 2-16 in the league last season, were picked fifth in the preseason SEC poll.
2. League improvement is obvious.
Before debuting as Vanderbilt’s coach last season, Bryce Drew spent 11 years on Valparaiso’s staff in northern Indiana.
“I was in Big Ten country and the SEC was really never talked about,” Drew said. “Now the SEC is getting talked about nationally at a higher level and a lot of that is because of the success we’ve had.”
The SEC sent five teams to the NCAA Tournament last season, putting three in the Elite Eight and one in the Final Four.
With Porter Jr. as the headliner, the league signed a nation’s best 26 of the ESPN’s top 100 recruits in the 2017 class.
“The league is as good as it’s been since I’ve been part of the SEC at 18 years old,” said Florida coach Mike White, a former Ole Miss guard. “That’s 22 years. I don’t think the SEC has been, from top to bottom, any stronger than it is right now in basketball.
“The 14 teams, if you just study the rosters and the talent level, now mixed in with some experience, I’m just not sure that you’ve had this many capable teams.”
3. FBI probe is a ‘game-changer’ for college basketball.
The SEC has three teams – in some way or another – involved in the FBI probe that has rattled college basketball in recent weeks.
Coaches from Alabama, Auburn and South Carolina have yet to speak Wednesday, but those with a podium have been asked plenty about the sport’s hottest topic.
Said Mississippi’s Andy Kennedy, the dean of SEC coaches: “Any time you see the FBI is involved in something, it gets your attention. Then when the information started to come out, I think everybody took a step back and said, ‘Wow, this is a game-changer.’ I think we’re all anxious to see what happens next.”
Said Arkansas coach Mike Anderson: “It’s very unfortunate, because this is a game that we’re the guardians of, when you talk about the coaches, and for that to come down the pike, it hits at the core.
“But at the same time, it’s something that’s been exposed and maybe a lot of good will come out of it. But I don’t think it should cast a blanket or a cover over the whole of college basketball. We’ve got some great coaches, great universities, you’ve got some great programs that are doing the right things, so hopefully a lot of good will come from it.”
Said Drew: “That’s not accurate [to say everyone cheats]. It’s easy to clump in ‘all the time’ and ‘every’ and all that. But I’ve been around college basketball my whole life, and I know that’s not accurate.”